CHARLES TOWN – The Charles Town Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association is petitioning the West Virginia Supreme Court to nullify an agreement between the state’s Racing and Lottery commissions.

Attorney David Hammer filed a writ of mandamus Monday on behalf of the association to declare null and void an interagency agreement that, according to a news release, gives many of the Racing Commission’s statutory duties to the Lottery Commission.

“The Racing Commission controls every aspect of the racing industry,” Hammer said in a telephone interview Monday. “By statute, the Legislature passed the statute, that’s the Racing Commission’s job. (The interagency agreement) has stripped from the Racing Commission (its duties) and given them to the Lottery Commission and that’s a huge deal for the horsemen in Jefferson County.”

If granted, the writ of mandamus would command the commissions not to implement the interagency agreement.

The Racing Commission and the Lottery Commission are agencies of the West Virginia Department of Revenue, which also is named in the petition for a writ of mandamus.

According to the news release Hammer issued Monday, the agreement approved June 18 by the Racing Commission gives the Lottery Commission the responsibility for the Thoroughbred Rules of Racing, which govern all thoroughbred horse racing.

Also, the agreement delegates many constitutional responsibilities of the West Virginia Attorney General to in-house legal counsel at the Lottery Commission, according to the news release, including day-to-day legal advice and the correct interpretation of the Thoroughbred Rules of Racing.

The Racing Commission did not get the Attorney General’s input on the agreement before authorizing it, the news release states.

“The Attorney General is a constitutional officer who has the responsibility to advise state agencies,” Hammer said in the news release. “This is a power grab by the executive branch of state government, plain and simple.”

Contacted Monday, the Attorney General’s office released the following statement:

“There are significant legal questions about what the West Virginia Racing Commission and West Virginia Lottery Commission have done. We are reviewing the petition and will not have any further comment until we have fully analyzed all of the issues.”

Jon Amores, executive director of the Racing Commission, received the notice of the petition Monday.

“We haven’t reviewed it and we wouldn’t have a comment until we review it and decide the proper response,” he said in a telephone interview Monday.

He would not comment on the contents of the interagency agreement, either. The agreement was not available to the public Monday.

There was no answer at the Lottery Commission’s offices Monday afternoon.

The state Supreme Court is not in session now, but there is a justice assigned to monitor emergency motions, the news release said. Hammer expects the writ to get prompt attention by the court, the release states.

Hammer said that former Gov. Joe Manchin tried to combine the Lottery and Racing commissions to form a gaming commission, but that was defeated by state legislators.

“What they failed to do legislatively, they have done administratively,” he said.